Wrestlemania 25 is live tonight from Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX with around 70,000 fans expected. Details below.

Raw is live on Monday night from the Toyota Center, and the Smackdown/ECW tapings is Tuesday from the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center in Austin, with the advertised dark match of John Cena, Triple H & Jeff Hardy vs. Edge, Randy Orton & Matt Hardy.

We’re looking for reader reports from all three shows with any off camera notes to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com

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John Morrison & The Miz vs. Carlito & Primo Colon in the tag title unification lumberjack match has been bumped from the PPV card to a preshow/DVD exclusive match. This has to be a sickner for all those involved.

An Australian cable station (no idea where they got this from but it appears to be legit and make sense) listed the order of events for Wrestlemania tonight as: Nicole Scherzinger singing America the Beautiful; JBL vs. Rey Mysterio for IC title; Money in the Bank ladder match; Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper & Jimmy Snuka as a gauntlet match and not a handicap match — Ric Flair and Mickey Rourke are billed as sitting at ringside; Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy Extreme rules match; Kid Rock concert; 25 Divas Battle Royal; Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show for the World title; Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker; and Triple H vs. Randy Orton for WWE title with a new stip added that if Hunter uses a sledgehammer the title changes hands.

The entire WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony with the inductions that didn’t air on the TV version of the show is online at http://tinyurl.com/dls4hu — I suggest watching ASAP as I doubt the video will stay up for long.

Steve Austin made it clear that he wouldn’t wrestle again during Hall of Fame acceptance speech. In fact Austin’s last match was six years ago at Wrestlemania 19 putting over The Rock. Austin said: “I want to close the door on my wrestling career, but I don’t want to close the door on (the fans). I want to say thank you. As I move away from professional wrestling and into the movie industry or that line of work, I just want you to be able to continue to support me and know that I’ll do whatever I can to try and entertain you the best I can.” The Hall of Fame went off the air with Austin subtly sharing a beer with John Cena, perhaps indicating a passing of the torch.

Some off camera Hall of Fame notes: Opposite the stage there was an electronic countdown timer letting the guys know when they had to rap up their speeches. Bill Watts and Terry Funk were the only guys who ran a little long. Security was amped up this year. There were signs up every where warning fans to be respectful and not cat call anyone on stage.
They were ejecting those who didn’t play ball, and also a few who had attempted to sneak in large lens cameras and video recorders. Among those in attendance who weren’t shown on camera: Diamond Dallas Page as a guest of Austin, Diana Hart mother of DH Smith, Pete Gas and Joey Abs of Mean Street Posse fame, Tammy Sytch, Chavo Guerrero Sr., Stan Hanson, Bobby Heenan, Undertaker was backstage, and Ron Simmons.

Dolph Ziggler suffered an injury this afternoon in a match with Sim Snuka at the Fan Axxess event. We will have more on this tomorrow.

Another note from Fan Axxess. Most guys were dressed in street clothes during autograph signings most notably Goldust and Hornswoggle. Shane Helms was also dressed in his full Hurricane gimmick which may be a sign that he is returning to the green and black caped crusader character.

Vince is trying to talk Ric Flair into returning full-time after Wrestlemania. One idea pitched to him was to be the GM of Smackdown.

Candice Michelle confirmed she won’t be in the Diva Battle Royal. As expected the two unannounced participants are Santino and Mae Young. I don’t expect Young will win but they are going to have to figure a way of getting her out quick without killing her.

A funny note from somebody who is staying at the WWE Hotel in Houston:
“At around three in the morning a couple nights ago, Kennedy appeared to be drunk in the lobby and he was trying to convince the guy at the front security to borrow his microphone so he could do the Mr. Kennedy announce gimmick on the loud speakers.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has named John Cena as it’s new ambassador.

The New York Post has a story on Cena at http://tinyurl.com/dxvbus claiming he wrestles 250 dates a year in between making movies. He also talks about his fiance who he has been with for 13 years and, of course, he manages to bash Dwayne Johnson again for “using” WWE as a springboard to Hollywood.

The El Paso Times at http://tinyurl.com/cdjlgx has a story on Vickie Guerrero remembering Eddie and talking about her on air role.

Men’s Fitness Magazine at http://tinyurl.com/d467jx has an interesting interview with Road Warrior Animal. Like many others he’s writing a book which will come out next year. On young deaths in wrestling, he said:
“It’s great that the WWE has a wellness program now. I only wish they had one back when Hawk had all his problems, because then he’d be here today. But these guys are big boys and they make their own choices in their lives.”

TNA NEWS

The Baltimore Sun at http://tinyurl.com/cq9sbr interviewed Torrie Wilson and asked her about rumors of joining TNA: “No. Nothing against TNA, but WWE is where you would want to be in that industry. And, you know, I get anxiety going to visit my mom on a plane now because I was just traveling so much before [laughs]. So the thought of being gone even one day a week doesn’t sound like something I want to do.”

WorldWrestlingInsanity.com has a new interview up with Jim Duggan. On
TNA: “I never really watched TNA. I never really, was enemies with
(Jeff) Jarrett, but we never saw eye to eye. So I’d never function well down there and I don’t watch the program. But it’s good for the talent to have another place to go, but they’re not really a competitor for the WWE. They’re more of an alternative for some of the fans to watch. But they’re a little bump in the road, actually.”

There is an autograph signing with Angelina Love, Traci Brooks, SoCal Val, Lauren, and others on 6/12 at Mother Kelly’s Restaurant in Cedarhurst, New York 11516.

AJ Styles, Rhino, Beer Money, and LAX will be appearing at the Prime Time Wrestling event in 8/30 in Belleville, MI.

OTHER NEWS

4/4 ROH HDNet TV results: Erick Stevens over James Keenan; The Dark City Fight Club over Cheech & Cloudy; Chris Hero over Necro Butcher; and
Bryan Danielson over Austin Aries.

The Tuscaloosa, AL News at http://tinyurl.com/clob58 has a story on
Debra Marshall talking about her rocky marriage to Steve Austin, saying
she left Austin because of domestic abuse and her sister fearing for her
life.

Jimmy Snuka is filming a reality show to shop to TV networks. The
concept is Snukka working 9-5 jobs in places fans would never expect to
see him like Randy the Ram in The Wrestler.

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